The Energy Survey 2001-02 collected information on energy use across the non-household sectors of the domestic Australian economy. It covered a range of energy and fuel types including electricity, natural gas, petroleum products, coal and renewable energy. The survey also collected information on the supply of petroleum products, electricity and natural gas, and the associated conversion, transmission and distribution losses. Energy use data will be available at a national and state level (at a later date for selected industries and fuel types); supply data will only be available at a national level. The survey only collected Australian domestic production and use.

This supply and use information will be reconciled and balanced by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) and the ABS during early 2004 and published by ABARE in the form of energy balances and by ABS in the form of energy accounts (ABS catalogue no. 4604.0).

53,576 kt of black coal, 65,075 kt of brown coal and 290,287 TJ of natural gas were used to produce electricity.

the supply of electricity and natural gas to end-users resulted in transmission and distribution losses of 14,825 GWh of electricity and 12,093 TJ of natural gas.

Australian industry end-users of energy (that is, excluding the conversion sectors), used 143,207 GWh of electricity, 362,931 TJ of natural gas, 9,726 ML of diesel, and 4,474 ML of petrol.

Electricity supply

In Australia, electricity generation is primarily undertaken by the electricity supply industry, but electricity can also be generated by individual businesses which either directly use the electricity (called own use) or sell excess generation to other users (called secondary generation). Total electricity generated in Australia in 2001-02 was 216,076 GWh. Of this 205,407 GWh was generated by the electricity supply industry and by secondary generators, and 10,669 GWh was generated for their own use by other businesses (table 1).

Total electricity sent out to transmitters,distributors or direct to industry(c)

GWh

193,325

..

193,325

(a) By energy accounting conventions, these fuels are considered primary energy sources, and as such are inputs into total electricity generated.(b) Total electricity generated is from all fuel inputs, including fuels not listed.(c) Electricity that is available to customers from an electricity retailer, network, grid, public mains or directly from the generator. It includes secondary generation.

Electricity is lost during its supply from power stations to homes and businesses; these losses are called supply losses. Initial losses occur when electricity generators use power in their generation processes and send out electricity to customers and transmission networks. Further losses occur along transmission and distribution networks. In 2001-02, 26,907 GWh was used or lost during supply of electricity to users. Initial losses by generators accounted for 12,082 GWh, transmission losses accounted for 6,301 GWh, and distribution losses accounted for 8,524 GWh. These losses represent around 13.1% of total electricity generated for sale.

Electricity is generally supplied to households and industry by distributors. However, high-voltage transmission companies, and even the generating businesses themselves can supply electricity directly to businesses. In 2001-02, according to electricity supply businesses, 127,095 GWh of electricity were supplied to industrial and commercial customers and 53,309 GWh were supplied to residential customers. Generators supplied 4,267 GWh of electricity to industry, transmitters supplied 24,993 GWh and distributors supplied 97,835 GWh (table 2).

TABLE 2. ELECTRICITY SUPPLY BY SOURCE, Australia, 2001-02

Amount

GWh

Electricity sold directly to industry from

Electricity generators (including secondary generators)

4,267

Electricity transmitters

24,993

Electricity distributors

97,835

Total electricity supplied to industrial/commercial customers

127,095

Total self-generated electricity for own use

10,669

Total electricity supplied to residential customers

53,309

Total electricity supplied to the domestic market(a)

191,073

(a) Total electricity generated (216,076 GWh) does not equal supply losses (26,907 GWh) plus electricity supplied to the domestic market (191,073 GWh). This is due to non-sampling errors, see Explanatory Notes paragraph 14.

Gas Supply

In 2001-02, 862,635 TJ of natural gas and ethane, 415,404 TJ of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 4,439 ML of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), were produced in Australia. Production losses including the flaring of gas, amounted to 31,974 TJ.

Transmission and distribution pipelines transport natural gas to end-users; this transportation can also lead to losses. Total supply losses in 2001-02 were 12,093 TJ, comprising 905 TJ of pipeline losses and 11,188 TJ of distribution losses. This represents around 1.5 % of all pipelined natural gas.

In 2001-02, 620,972 TJ of natural gas were delivered to large customer connections (industrial and commercial customers), comprising 232,416 TJ from distribution networks and 388,556 TJ from transmission pipelines (table 3). Total supply to small customer connections (households and small businesses) was 168,614 TJ.

TABLE 3. NATURAL GAS SUPPLY BY SOURCE, Australia, 2001-02

Amount

TJ

Natural gas sold directly to industry from

Transmission pipelines

388,556

Distribution networks

232,416

Total natural gas supplied to large customer connections(a)

620,972

Total natural gas supplied to small customer connections(b)

168,614

Total natural gas supplied to the domestic market

789,586

(a) Distributors define businesses using more than 10 TJ of natural gas per year as a large customer connection.(b) Customers using less than 10 TJ of natural gas per year. These customers comprise households and small businesses.

End-use of energy by industry (that is, energy which is not converted into another form of energy) included 143,207 GWh of electricity, 362,931 TJ of natural gas, and 4,196 kt of black coal (table 5). Additionally, industry end-users consumed 9,726 ML of diesel, 4,474 ML of petrol and 1,117 ML of LPG. Biomass was the main renewable fuel used; 6,748 kt of bagasse and 1,146 kt of wood and woodwaste were consumed by industry for end-use activities.

Caution should be taken when comparing end-use and supply data as presented in this publication. No attempt has been made to balance the figures, and scope and coverage issues will only partially explain the discrepancies. Fully balanced supply and use estimates will be published by ABARE and ABS during 2004.

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